Senior Jason Liebert was 3-for-4 with six RBIs and helped lead Riverdale past Ben Franklin 15-5 in five innings Kirsch-Rooney Stadium. Friday's victory was the Rebels second this season over their District 10-4A foe.

Riverdale took advantage of the less experienced Falcons in the top of the first, scoring seven runs on five hits and batting through its rotation. Liebert and Rafeal Del Valle Regos started things off for the Rebels with back-to-back singles. Chad Thiaville cranked a base-clearing double past the short stop to put the Rebels up 3-0.

Joe Parr, James Price and Rondell Mosley capped the inning off with singles, combining for four more Rebel runs and a 7-0 advantage.

In the bottom second, with Riverdale leading 7-3, the Rebels put up five more runs behind the big bats of Liebert, Parr and Taylor Bernard. With the bases loaded, Liebert smacked a triple to give the Rebels a 10-3 lead. Parr and Bernard knocked in final two runs of the inning on back-to-back doubles and exteded the lead to 12-3.

Parr and Bernard each finished the game 2-for-3. Parr had one RBI and Bernard had two.

It seemed as though the Rebels (5-13, 3-3) had done enough to end things after three innings, but the Falcons had a little rally left. The Falcons added two more runs in the third, capitalizing on Riverdale's six errors to make it a 12-5 game.

While Franklin (7-12, 1-6) score five runs, it did so on just one hit, which came courtesy of a Ryan Matthews single up the middle in the third. Yet it wasn’t quite enough to spark the Falcons bats, and Rebels went on to put up three more runs to end the game in the fifth.

“We got way too comfortable with our lead,” Liebert said. “We came out so strong with our bats and doing everything we were supposed to and lost our focus for a little bit there in the second and third innings. But we pulled it back together and were able to close the game in five, so I’m pleased with the victory.”

Boasting 10 freshmen, the Falcons are a work in progress, according to Coach Wally Scott. But he’s pleased with the way his players stick with the game and do what they can.

“We just have to keep it all in perspective,” Scott said. “As a young team it’s expected we’re going to make mistakes, but they’re all sticking with it and committed to doing the work to improve as a team and it’s going to keep better for us.”